Opposition in Punjab Assembly claimed that the new Local Government Bill would not deliver to the people, and declared it unconstitutional.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s members criticised the proposed law to elect a majority of members of the local district governments through an indirect election-cum-selection, which they claimed would increase corruption and horse-trading. They also raised the issue of delimitation on the basis of population censuses because the last census was held in 1998 and the country’s population had exponentially increased since then.
They demanded the government to hold delimitation on the basis of population rather than on a territorial basis. They said that the authority of finances and the replacement of district government heads had been given to the provincial government which was a flawed policy.
The opposition demanded to continue the Union Council system in the local governments and an end to the division of rural and urban areas. They also said that the government was not giving 33 percent seats to women in the local bodies while the seats for minorities had also been reduced from 150 to 10 in the Lahore district which was unfair.
The general debate on the Punjab Local Government Bill to adopt a new system of devolution of power in the province started in the Punjab Assembly on Monday. The debate would continue for more than four days.
In the debate the opposition benches termed the bill as against the spirit of Article 140-A, and 32 of the Pakistani constitution and additionally, against the Article 10, 29, and 30 of the Charter of Democracy singed by Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto.
While the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) government ensured the members of the provincial assembly that the Bill would accommodate all their positive suggestions.
On Monday, the session started one hour and 14 minutes later than its scheduled time of 10am. Deputy Speaker Sher Ali Gorchani chaired the session. The general debate on the bill continued for more than four hours.
Opening the debate, Provincial Minister Khalil Tahir Sindhu highlighted some features of the bill and said that his government had recommended the provincial finance commission for the accountability in the district governments, and additionally, two authorities related to district education and district health had also been proposed in the bill.
He also informed the house that reports of the district government would be presented in the house after passing this bill. The metropolitan corporations, municipal corporations and other bodies in urban and rural areas would be constituted on the basis of population, he added.
While addressing the house, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah pressed his colleagues, especially the opposition members, to hold a debate on the matter of either holding the elections of local governments on a political basis or not as well as the issue of urban and rural division in the new system.
PTI members Mian Aslam Iqbal, Dr Murad Ras, Arif Abbasi and Sadia Sohail said that under the Article 140-A and 32 of the constitution it had been cleared that the local governments would be formed on a political basis. They added that in the bill however, such a point was not mentioned which was against the spirit of the constitution.
They criticised the PML-N leadership that the latter had forgotten the promises they made in the Charter of Democracy (CoD), in which they were committed to democracy and to the devolution of powers at grassroots level through local governments. They criticised dividing the local governments into two portions of rural and urban areas saying that such divided system would not deliver to the masses.
Siddique said that the government should not consider the local governments’ system of 2001 as a system given by a dictator, but should instead take the positive developments from it. He said that the Supreme Court had directed the provincial governments to constitute local body laws for overcoming terrorism in the country.
While addressing the house, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s Shahabuddin Khan said that the PML-N government was not only going against the spirit of the constitution but it was also violating its own promises made in the CoD in 2006 for constituting local governments on a political party basis.
Some other members like PML-N’s Shabina Zikriya Butt, Elyas Chinioti, Pakistan Muslim League- Quaid (PML-Q)’s Waqqas Hassan Moakal, Mazhar Abbas Raan, Malik Mohammad Ali Khokhar, Haji Khalid Saeed and Elyas Insari also spoke at the occasion.
Later, the chair adjourned the session till 10am on Wednesday, announcing that the polls for electing the new Pakistani President would be held on Tuesday and the Punjab Assembly Chamber would be used as polling station. He announced that the Lahore High Court Chief Justice of Umar Ata Bandial would hold the election as a presiding officer, and that polling would commence from 10am till 3pm. He added that all the Punjab assembly members were eligible to cast their votes after showing their identity to the presiding office.